US and Taiwanese officials failed to make headway on important issues in a top-level meeting last week, reflecting a cooling in US-Taiwan relations, Defense News reported on Monday.
The US weekly reported that senior US and Taiwanese officials met last week in Quantico, Virginia, to discuss such issues as Taiwan's offensive ballistic missile program, future arms sales, training programs and the US arms package currently stalled in Legislative Yuan.
The discussions, known as the "Monterey Talks," are the highest-level annual meeting between US and Taiwanese officials, according to the report.
A former Pentagon official is quoted as saying that this year's Monterey Talks lacked substance, adding that "the [US'] level of interest in Taiwan has diminished."
"Some in the [US Department of Defense] are said to have written off Taiwan in its [the US'] longer-term planning in dealing with China as a strategic competitor," the former official is quoted as saying.
The unsuccessful meeting could be one more sign that Washington is drawing away from Taipei to curry favor with Beijing, the report added.
The recent visit to China by Admiral William Fallon, the commander in chief of the US Pacific Command, and the presence of People's Liberation Army officials at the US "Valiant Shield" military exercises off of Guam last month are cited in the report as events that, observers say, may signal a shift in the US' position regarding Taiwan.
When asked to comment on the Defense News report, Ministry of National Defense Spokesman Rear Admiral Wu Chi-fang (
"I hope that you understand that first of all, I do not think we can comment on this meeting because it was a meeting that concerns the US' national security," Wu said.
He said that the meeting used to be opened to the public, but starting two years ago, it became a closed-door meeting.
Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang
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